EVOLUTION

Mosquito bites are a part of Canadian living. Usually, the only consequence of an unwanted invasion is an itchy welt. However, over the last decade, the consequences have become significantly greater due to the emergence of several viruses.

Recently a friend sent me an article that fascinated me. It's penned by a woman with a similar religious upbringing, and, having abandoned "the faith," now finds the world regurgitating religion -- in...

While evolution can happen gradually, it seems as if some of the most dynamic evolutionary leaps happen in dramatic spurts. Arguably, we are living in an extremely disruptive time that most likely will result in dramatic evolutionary changes in our lives, societies and environment. While we mostly equate evolution with a forward-moving positive progression, I do think evolution can also be negative or regressive.

Lessening bullying requires a societal effort. No single institution can prevent the circumstances that lead to a young person fearing hateful comments online. Humanity has proven we have the capacity to improve the well being of others -- we should plan to make giant strides in minimizing bullying, too.

As of 2014, 143 out of 195 countries legally guarantee equality between men and women. I wish I could say that gender equality, or any equality, enforced by the law translates into equality in the minds of people. Deeply rooted problems preventing true parity have been promoted by patriarchy for years, passed on from one generation to another disguised as 'tradition.'

The provincial government announced it's introducing its proposed sex education changes. As expected opponents pounced, including Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Monte McNaughton. He gave Wynne the moment she needed to not only change the channel on her Sudbury scandal, but also to get the upper hand on the curriculum changes. There just aren't enough Ontarians looking to fight over sex education or who want to stand with folks who are actually homophobic or genuinely believe evolution should not be taught if people don't want it taught. They need to clear those last two issues up, very quickly and clearly.

It's that time of year again: flu season. Once again, the influenza virus has showed up in Canada threatening up to 20 per cent of the population. For the vaccine to be effective, it has to perfectly mimic the viruses in nature. This is actually harder than one might think as influenza is the master of evolutionary disguise.

What do these study findings actually suggest about human personality? Seeing similar personality trends in other species that have a shared evolutionary history with humans provides strong evidence that biology plays an important role in personality, perhaps even more than social or cultural influences.

The classic definition of a biological species is the ability to breed within its group, and the inability to breed outside it. A study published July 29 in the journal PLOS Biology offers some important clues about the evolution of barriers to breeding.

In terms of statistics, 12 per cent grew antibiotic resistance and became marginalized from others. Twenty-eight per cent of the population chose a wealthy style, happily living in their gated biofilms. Half of all the bacteria decided to take a middle-class lifestyle, choosing an easy nutrient source and never engaging in any extreme activity.

Unlike humans, who need on average 20 years between generations, these small creatures only need about 20 minutes to foster offspring. This means that the bacterium can evolve some 500,000 times faster than us. This rapid rate offers the prime opportunity to explore some of the deeper mysteries and perhaps even offer mechanisms to best predict when evolution might happen to us.

Dylan is one of my heroes, and not all of my heroes are Christians; but they all inspire us with the breathtaking beauty of this world and the hope that we can overcome its tragedies, past, present and future.

Over the last few weeks, as expected, there has been a transition in the media headlines from the antics of Ford to the augury of flu. There was more than enough reason to believe that the virus that caused the pandemic from 2009-2010, better known as H1N1pdm or "swine flu" was back.

While we only recycle a quarter of our human-made waste, germs recycle almost everything cellular. This week, a group of researchers from different corners of the globe discovered that bacteria can even recycle genetic material (DNA), making them the ultimate environmental champions.